7 June 2010

Sandar Church and Cemetery, Sandefjord, Norway, Part I

Sandar kirke (church) in Sandefjord is a cross church from 1792 built on the ruins of a medieval stone church. The architect was Hans Christian Lind. The church used to have an hemispherical cupola, which was replaced by the spire in 1868.

The history of the Sandefjord and Sandar municipality, which merged into one in 1968, is the history of shipping. Therefore most of the graves in this photo article (see also part II) are of well-known shipping families of Sandefjord and Sandar, such as Jahre, Klaveness and Christensen.

Possibly the most prominent members of the Christensen family: Consul Lars Christensen and his wife Ingrid, who was a daughter of another shipowner, Thor Dahl (1862-1920). During WW2 Lars and Ingrid lived in exile in New York where Lars worked in the administration of the Norwegian merchant fleet. During these years (and later) they socialized with the Norwegian Crown Princess Märtha. Lars Christensen's summer property at Yxney in Sandefjord (Lars Christensen Jr. used it as a permanent residence) was later bought by Kjell Christian Ulrichsen, a first cousin of Queen Sonja.

More Christensen graves. It would perhaps have been better if I had grouped the two monuments together. I might return with another photo later.

Sources

Besides the cemetery register at Disnorge.no/gravminner, I have also got some information from the book "Reder- og skippergårder in Sandefjord" by Tor Bjørvik, 2009.

15 comments:

Hi,My grandfather, Bjarne Severin Olesen Strom (1907-55), is buried in Sandefjord graveyard. He was chief engineer on a whaling ship, but I don`t know which one! Do you have a photo of his grave, by any chance? Fascinating to see all these pictures.Andrew Bennett.

Thanks for your comments! I have checked the cemetery records at Disnorge.no/gravminner and found that your grandfather is buried at Ekeberg cemetery in Sandefjord (grave no. F07-10-05212). The id. at Disnorge.no is 491293. I am afraid that no photo is available at the moment. However, I would be happy to help you out by taking a photo of the grave, but I just don't know when I will be in Sandefjord next time (I will travel through Sandefjord on Sunday 24th, but it will probably be dark). I would therefore suggest that you contact DIS-Norge's Sandefjord group, which might be able to help out: http://www.disnorge.no/vf/brukergrupper.htm (att.: Mr. Rydjord). If not, please send me an e-mail and I will keep it in mind for my next visit to my family in Sandefjord.

For Andrew Bennett: Osvald Rydjord, who is active in one of the Norwegian genealogical socities, DIS-Norge, has been as kind as to locate your grandfather's grave at Ekeberg cemetery in Sandefjord and has taken a photo of it which you can find by following the link to my website.

My great-great grandparents are also buried at Sandar church. Of my whole family I am the only one who has an interest in keeping our Norwegian heritage alive. I came to Norway in 2007 for a short holiday and to find where my family came from. Happily, prior to coming I was able to find out a great deal about my family. My mother thought the gaps would never be filled and that her grandmother's family story in Norway was left behind forever when she sailed away to America in 1900.

I took the rail from Oslo to Sandefjord and found my great great grandparents grave by God's will, because there was no one about that I could inquire about their location. I found the stone by searching the rows! Can you imagine? I have some lovely photos, one of which I might want to ask you about as it concerns an old house in the vicinity of the church. Might I send it along with my question?

Hello, I am looking for Lars Christensen III. We met in 1979 and lost the contact with him. Do you have any idea of how I can contact him? I saw you have someone registered under that name, born in 1953. I'll appreciate any information and cogratulations for the great research you do as a man dedicated to History. best regards. Ma. Angeles

Hei Dag! Congratulations on a great blog! I wonder if you could help me finding out a little information on my Grandfather's family. Henry Ole Gulliksen (my Grandfather) was born in Sandefjord on 17th september 1916. I know his mother, Hilde Olive Olsen died of Spanish flu in 1918 and his father, Vilhelm, Ferdinand Gulliksen susposedly left to go to USA around this time. I have found a mention of Vilhelm arriving at Ellis Island in 1920 but nothing after that. I have confirmation from the US Citizen & Immigration services that he never applied for US citizenship. I think he was a sailor because I have found some refrences to William Gulliksen between 1928 - 32. In one of the refrences he states his next of kin as Henry Gulliksen in Sandefjord. I would like to try and find out what happened to him. My Grandfather was a whaler ans was at sea when Germany invaded Norway. His bat docked in the UK and Henry joined the allied forces and became a Commando. After the war he met my Grandmother and lived the rest of his life in the UK. I would be very grateful if you could please give me any advice on where I can find this information. Kind regards, Richard Calvin

Hello, I believe the Hans Christian Lind, architect for the Sandar church was my 5th great grandfather. I am trying to find out more about him. I have found his citizen status in Christiana in 1786, his marriage and the birth of his son Hans Christian Lind. According to an article I found he was from Denmark, educated in Copenhagen. I have not been able to find a birth/christening record for him in Denmark. Does anyone know anything about him? I'd be very grateful for any assistance.

This blog is written by Dag T. Hoelseth, a Norwegian historian specialising in royal history.
I have a Cand.philol. degree in history from the University of Oslo and graduated in 1997 with the dissertation Det nasjonale kongedømme. Det norske monarkiet 1905-1910, which dealt with the royal election in Norway 1905 and how the new dynasty "became Norwegian".
I am the author of Historisk utredning om Kongehuset, dets apanasjer og disponible statseiendommer, which was published on behalf of the Palace Committee in 2001. The report focused among others on the history of the Norwegian civil list from 1905 to the 1970s as well as the properties the king of Norway has to his disposal.
I have made contributions to several antologies and also written articles for various publications. More often I have operated "behind the scene", consulting newspapers etc. with background information.
Among my other interests are genealogy, Norwegian-American emigration history, US presidential history, traveling, football and ice hockey.